Tony Daniel (editor) - World Breakers

WORLD
BREAKERS

edited by

TONY DANIEL

and

CHRISTOPHER
RUOCCHIO

World Breakers

Edited by Tony Daniel and Christopher Ruocchio

Formed from cold steel and superpowered computing brains, these gigantic tanks with the firepower of an entire army have been the decisive factors in interplanetary battle. But are humans worthy of the extraordinary instruments of war that they have created? Are the Worldbreakers the greatest protector of human liberty, or its worst threat? For, while these Worldbreakers very definitely have minds of their own, the question remains: within their iron and superluminal quantum breasts, does there lie a faithful heart? Stories of world breakers and world makers in the great tradition of Keith Laumers Bolos from David Weber, Larry Correia, Wen Spencer, and more!

Recent Releases by the Contributors

David Weber

The Honor Harrington

series and others

Governor

Larry Correia

Monster Hunter International series and others

Monster Hunter Bloodlines

Wen Spencer

The Tinker series and others

Project Elfhome

Kevin Ikenberry

The Revelations Saga

Peacemaker

Keith Hedger

Burn n Karma Series

Easy Jobs

Patrick Chiles

Frontier

Tony Daniel

Guardian of Night

Hank Davis

Coeditor of Cosmic Corsairs

Kacey Ezell

The Romanov Rescue

(with Tom Kratman and

Justin Watson; forthcoming)

Christopher Ruocchio

The Sun Eater series

Demon in White

Monalisa Foster

Ravages of Honor series

Ravages of Honor: Ascension (forthcoming)

Robert E. Hampson

Coeditor of The Founder Effect

Lou J Berger

Professor Challenger:

The Serpent of the Loch

WORLD
BREAKERS

edited by

TONY DANIEL

and

CHRISTOPHER
RUOCCHIO

World Breakers

This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.

Introduction 2021 by Toni Weisskopf; World Enough 2021 by Robert E. Hampson; A Tank Named Bob 2021 by Larry Correia; Red One 2021 by Kevin Ikenberry; Daughter of the Mountains 2021 by Kacey Ezell; Tanknological Superiority 2021 by Hank Davis; Harvester of Men 2021 by Tony Daniel; Amarillo by Fire Fight 2021 by Keith Hedger; Anvil 2021 by Wen Spencer; Good of the Many 2021 by Monalisa Foster; The Prisoner 2021 by Patrick Chiles; The Dragonslayers 2021 by Christopher Ruocchio; Humanitys Fist 2021 by Lou J Berger; Dyma Fin Sefyll 2021 by David Weber

All additional material copyright 2021 by Tony Daniel and Christopher Ruocchio.

All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form.

A Baen Books Original

Baen Publishing Enterprises

P.O. Box 1403

Riverdale, NY10471

www.baen.com

ISBN: 978-1-9821-2551-6

EISBN: 978-1-62579-817-6

Cover art by Dominic Harman

First printing, August 2021

Distributed by Simon & Schuster

1230 Avenue of the Americas

New York, NY10020

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Daniel, Tony, editor. | Ruocchio, Christopher, editor.

Title: World breakers / edited by Tony Daniel and Christopher Ruocchio.

Description: Riverdale, NY : Baen Publishing, [2021]

Identifiers: LCCN 2021022440 | ISBN 9781982125516 (trade paperback)

Subjects: LCSH: Science fiction, American. | Artificial intelligenceFiction. | Tanks (Military science)Fiction. | LCGFT: Science fiction. | War fiction.

Classification: LCC PS648.S3 W646 2021 | DDC 813/.0876208dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021022440

Printed in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Electronic Version by Baen Books

www.baen.com

WORLD
BREAKERS

INTRODUCTION

The seeds for this anthology were sown many years ago, some time in the early 1990s. Jim Baen was writing an editorial letter to one of our authors, Keith Laumer. Keith had asked what Jim would like to see next. Another Retief novel? Perhaps something more serious? This is what Jim wrote:

New Novel: Absolutely. As I said only somewhat coherently over the phone, this time I would like something that hints at the profound erudition possessed by the author and is driven by a plot imbued with the deepest philosophical insight into the essential tragedy of the human condition as it is and places it in the most bathetic contrast to what could, in a better world, be our birthright. Something with scope. Something with sentient tanks.

And as I was but a mere editorial assistant at the time, it was my duty to file this letter. I saw it, made a copy of this section for myself, and it has lived on a bulletin board within a glance of my desk in every office Ive occupied since then.

Something with scope. Something with sentient tanks. We probably should have put that on Jims headstone (may he rest in peace). Such delightful words.

In August of 2019 I made mention of this quote on social media, and the other two quotations that I have posted on that same bulletin board. The first of these is from the New York Times Book Review: As someone has since put it, mankinds most deeply held need is not to obtain food, clothing or shelter or to preserve the species but to change someone elses copy. And, as quoted in John Hertzs Vanamonde, from W. Fowler, Modern English Usage: To have to depend on ones employers readiness to take the will for the deed is surely a humiliation that no decent craftsman should be willing to put up with.

But it was Jims words that sparked the imagination, not surprisingly. And so, from that discussion, sprang this anthology. My thanks to Lou Berger for taking the idea and running with it, and to Tony Daniel and Christopher Ruocchio for helming this volume of original stories about things that can break worlds and mend hearts.

The thing is, Keith Laumer did possess profound erudition, and did have insight into the essential tragedy of the human condition. Thats what made that editorial direction so exciting; Keith had actually written such works.

You can find the biographical details online, but Laumer had served in the Army Air Corps in WWII, went to university in Sweden, finished his degree in architecture from the University of Illinois, went back into the Air Force, twice, and in between tours served as a member of the Foreign Service in Burma.

When he wrote military science fiction in the Bolo series or spoofed the pretensions of diplomats in the Retief series, he knew whereof he wrote. And it showed. His work did and does resonate with readers. The tragedy of Laumers life was that, according to those who knew him, his personality changed after he had a stroke in 1971. But he was a stubborn man, and he continued to write up until his death in 1993.

And we at the Baen office knew him wellhe called frequently, and while we never met him, we all felt close to him. And tried to support him long distancewe were in New York City, he in his house in Florida surrounded by his beloved Cougars (the cars, not the beasts)as best we could. He was not an easy man in those post-stroke years, but we, his typist Deane Fetrow, and the local SF community by way of the Haldemans (Jack, Joe, Gay et al.) were able, I think, to make his final years if not easy, at least easier than they could have been.